Hello from Idaho

Just got my first two rabbits today- 2 californian does about 8 weeks old, have a new zealand buck I pick up Wednesday and possible a breeding pair by friday. Working on my hutch areas this week.

I teach survival and the ethical harvesting of your own food. This is all very new to me and an adventure I am looking forward to. Even though many of these are going to be used for consumption (My doc also said I need to go to rabbit meat) I want my heard to be healthy and well cared for so looking here for advice and insight.

Right now the two does are crated together, the buck will be crated separately, and the breeding pair will get broken up and crated until I have the hutches completed. The breeder I met with today uses a "family" concept and all his rabbits ran free with his chickens- something I am interested in doing once I get the hutches completed.

Looking forward to this new adventure!!!

BTW-- I don't want to be a disruption here. I just started raising rabbits tonight under the guidance of a a rabbit breeder. I got into raising my own rabbits because I want to ensure they are treated well and not just seen as a "product". I emailed the admin earlier to ensure its okay for me to be on this site--and if not will only observe. My hope is to be a contributor as well as using the info here to educate others who may not know about rabbits or how to care for them. I will be cautious and respectful on any postings.

My postion is of respect and I don't want to offend anyone on the site.

Thanks

Rob

You have as much right to be here as everyone else There's nothing allowed about the discussion of dispatching and "dealing with" meat rabbits. But any information about rabbit care is more than welcome and no matter why someone has a rabbit it's important that they get proper care

You may not find much advice on colony situations here, as most of us are pet owners, after that most breeders tend to keep all their bucks separate from their does, and all their does separate from each other. A colony situation is great, my only concern would be to still keep the bucks separately mainly because otherwise you'll end up with back to back litters every 4 weeks as does can become pregnant immediately after giving birth and you'll want to rest them between litters and give them a chance to raise their young etc.

Keeping with chickens is obviously done, though there are some bacterial infections you have to be concerned about which rabbits can contact through bird poop such as pasteurellosis and streptoccosis.

I'm not sure I can offer much advice beyond that but you'll probably get better responses by posting specific questions about colony housing and feeding etc in the relevant forums

Thank you!

I built two new areas today with plenty of room to romp around, keeping the does away from the buck. As it turns out, when I went to pick up the buck today, his conditions were pretty bad. He was being kept in a 2'x2' cage. The person I got him from is getting out of rabbits and he was the last one.

He now has a 4'x6' area to hang out in. both have repurposed Dogloo shelters, small warming lights (it was 18 degrees this morning) and pine bows to nibble on. The does currently have 10'x11' area to hang in that used to be a Mullein patch.

Good info on the chickens and have decided to not let them mingle.

Thanks again for accepting me here.

Avoid all pine unless it's been kiln dried--phenols are toxic as well as anything cedar as it's totally toxic. I give ours apple branches that are free of any chemicals to chew.

Nancy-- Thank you-- I did not realize that. The breeder I got the two does from had this in his set up. I will get those out of there. Also did not know about the cedar. I have pine shavings for them to snuggle down in in the Dog-gloos---will check at first light to see if it is kiln dried.